Organizational theory has long held that it is difficult to transfer organizations from one environment to another and that organizations that are transferred will take on characteristics of the new ...
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Organizational theory has long held that it is difficult to transfer organizations from one environment to another and that organizations that are transferred will take on characteristics of the new environment. The authors argue that organizations have the capabilities and the resources to transfer and to some degree replicate key capabilities in a new environment, and further to alter those environments in light of their functional requirements. We explore the question of organizational transfer and replication through the lens of a specific class of transplant organizations—Japanese automotive assembly plants and their suppliers in the US. We believe that these transplant organizations provide an ideal case to explore such questions because they represent organizations which are being transferred from a supportive to a foreign environment. We find that these Japanese automotive transplants have effectively transferred and to some degree replicated key organizational forms and capabilities at both the intra‐ and inter‐organizational levels.Less

Transfer and Replication of Organizational Capabilities: Japanese Transplant Organizations in the United States

Richard FloridaMartin Kenney

Published in print: 2001-11-29

Organizational theory has long held that it is difficult to transfer organizations from one environment to another and that organizations that are transferred will take on characteristics of the new environment. The authors argue that organizations have the capabilities and the resources to transfer and to some degree replicate key capabilities in a new environment, and further to alter those environments in light of their functional requirements. We explore the question of organizational transfer and replication through the lens of a specific class of transplant organizations—Japanese automotive assembly plants and their suppliers in the US. We believe that these transplant organizations provide an ideal case to explore such questions because they represent organizations which are being transferred from a supportive to a foreign environment. We find that these Japanese automotive transplants have effectively transferred and to some degree replicated key organizational forms and capabilities at both the intra‐ and inter‐organizational levels.